Steenkamp wins regional crown

ACU will have two players at national championships

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- ACU's Casper Steenkamp knocked off Matias Oddone of Drury University on Sunday to win the men's singles championship of the ITA Central Region tennis championships on the campus of Drury University.

Steenkamp will join his ACU teammate, women's regional singles champion Colleen Reynolds, at the ITA National Small College Championships, which will be played Oct. 16-19 at the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi. Reynolds last week won the women's singles title at the Central regional played in Abilene.

Steenkamp had a tough semifinal match Sunday, but was able to beat the tournament's No. 2 seed, Kendall Smashey of St. Edward's, 7-5, 6-3. Steenkamp -- the tournament's seventh seed -- then beat the sixth-seeded Oddone, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1, in the final to win the championship.

Steenkamp had a chance to also win the regional doubles title, but he and teammated Jason Ray were knocked off in the championship match, 10-8, by the Drury team of Oddone and Akos Tajta.